Rescue of 2 Nepali women who were stranded for sending to Oman

Why was 24-year-old Rita (name changed) from Sarlahi and 20-year-old Neetu (name changed) from Lalitpur rescued by the Nepali Embassy in Delhi in coordination with India?

Both girls were brought to India by different people (human traffickers) with the hope of working as domestic workers in Omna and earning a good income. Both the victims from different places met in Kochi, Kerala.

A human trafficker's network tried to take both of them to Oman via Sri Lanka from Kochi Airport. However, airport immigration returned them twice.

'We were kept in a hotel in Kochi for 25 days after not being able to fly, recently we started having problems with eating, the broker we were in contact with did not even agree to send us back to Nepal,' said the rescued victim Rita, 'The financial situation of the house is not good and the husband and children I came to Oman for the baby. However, it got stuck for many days in India.'

Looking at the demand for domestic workers in Gulf countries, human traffickers send women from Nepal illegally to those countries. The brokers bear all the expenses that are not incurred by the person going.

From the passports of both of the rescued people, when they were brought from Nepal to India and The expenses of sending it from India to Oman via Sri Lanka were done by the smuggling gang.

'Instead of sending them home, they would say that 75,000 have been spent on you, return it and we will only get them,' said Neetu from Lalitpur. break She said that the hotel owner, who was staying with them, started to have problems and told them to rescue the family through phone contact. Consul of the embassy SSP Uma Prasad Chaturvedi said that they got stuck due to the confusion of the broker. After the victim's family contacted the police in Nepal, they were rescued based on information from there.

The broker sent them to Kochi airport by giving tickets to Kathmandu via Sri Lanka . To go directly from India to the Gulf countries, you need a NOC (non-objection letter) from the embassy in Delhi. Chaturvedi says that the smugglers are trying to use the Sri Lanka route to evade the same.

It is necessary for the women to go to Nepal, because there is no direct flight from Kochi, they were taught to tell the immigration that they are going through Sri Lanka. After arriving in Sri Lanka, after leaving the airport, the women were told that the members of the smuggling gang would keep them for a few days and send them to Oman. However, on the first day, the Kochi airport immigration sent them both back to Kathmandu asking why they were going to Sri Lanka . On that day, it was said that the 'setting' did not match .

Tried the next day too, 5 other people who went with us The women flew away," said Rita of Sarlahi. "My aunt, who I came with, got to go. But, my ticket was sent back again saying that it was full.'

Navin Joshi, head of Kin India involved in the rescue operation, said that the victimized women were taken to Delhi by road and then to Kochi by rail.

After the failed attempt to send them to Oman from there, they were stranded by the broker without arranging for them to return home, he said. They were held captive for weeks in the hope that the smugglers would try to send them again.